Gossip Should Have No Friends

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RICK EMERSON and crew

STATION IDENTIFICATION: Local radio man Rick Emerson, who currently talks about all things obsessive-compulsive, bacon and Battlestar Galactica from 11 am to 3 pm on Portland’s 970-AM the Talker, is taking over KUFO 101-FM’s prime morning-show slot (5 to 9 am) starting this Thursday, March 12. He’ll replace the cancelled Adam Carolla Show. No loss there. According to CBS Radio marketing honcho Susan Reynolds, the Rick Emerson Show is sliding over to sister station KUFO, which shares a downtown Portland studio with 970 AM, with its team intact—including producer Sarah X. Dylan. Even better, the show, which is so popular with locals that it boasts its own “Emerson Army,” will reunite Emerson and Dylan with their beloved longtime newsman Tim Riley, who was laid off from CBS Radio last December. Don’t forget to set your alarm clocks, guys.

HOT TOPIC: Midwestern transplants and coffee lovers, rejoice! Mike Phillips, from Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea in Chicago, took home first place at this past weekend’s U.S. Barista Championships at the Oregon Convention Center. Phillips’ charismatic, professional presentation, along with his velvety cappuccinos and a signature drink based on the mai tai, wowed the judges. A note to Northwest regional finalist Alex Pond from Fresh Pot, who garnered big cheers from the hometown crowd Saturday, March 7: You put up the good fight, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

DINNER TIME: Move over, Twilight—vampires are so 2008. In what’s becoming an increasingly common practice, Montreal synth-rock band Handsome Furs (Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and his wife, Alexei Perry) trekked to Portland to make its epic and zombiefied video for “I’m Confused,” the first single from its new record, Face Control. In January, local director Scott Coffey (Ellie Parker, plus, he also played Ray in Some Kind of Wonderful back in the ’80s) filmed the duo running around North Mississippi Avenue and environs in makeup, oozing black blood, for less than $5,000—a budget he says would be impossible to hit in a larger city. “I just wanted to make a video that if I was 15 would blow my mind,” says Coffey. Watch the video on scottcoffey.net.